Free Press –
‘Meredith’s Spin’ Topics:
John Edwards, Mayor Anderson
& Bush Impeachment, Post Office Clocks, Dr. Leight
&
Dear Friends,
Good morning. There’s so much news to cover that it’s hard to begin. One of my favorite villains in the talk radio, entertainment business is Bill O’Reilly. He calls his daily show “The Bill (No Spin) O’Reilly Factor.” O’Reilly is a rude bully but he gave me an idea for the title of my weekly column…Meredith’s Spin on the news.
This week, I identified eight local, state, and national news items for my weekly spin. Let’s begin with national.
I was disappointed with Democratic Presidential Candidate John Edwards’ decision to stay in the race since his wife’s breast cancer has returned. Putting to rest speculation about his political future, Edwards told reporters: “The campaign goes on. The campaign goes on strongly,” according to the Associated Press (March 23).
Edward’s wife, Elizabeth, bravely and very publicly encouraged him to continue to fight for the nomination. What else could she say? Personally, I think that her husband made two huge mistakes.
First, he should get out of the limelight and give his wife 100 percent of his time and support. Who knows how much time they have together? Second, if he’s expecting the sympathy of the American voter, he’s miscalculating. He would receive more support if he told the world that his wife comes first…politics second. He confirmed what I thought about him in 2004. John Edwards is a young, good looking, articulate…and selfish politico.
Item.
Has George W. Bush’s impeachment process begun? “President Bush is a war criminal,” Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson cried out last week. “Let impeachment be the first step toward national reconciliation and toward penance for the outrages committed in our nation’s name,” he continued. The Mayor is serious.
Here’s what the New York Times reported (March 22). “One of the mayor’s former chiefs of staff, Deeda Seed, who was fired in 2005, described her former boss this way: “I used to be good friends with him. He’s incredibly intelligent. He is delightful to talk to. He can be a really, really good friend. He could just benefit from a little therapy.”
Is Mayor Anderson just a theatrical kook? Or will the Democratic congress use its subpoena powers to investigate the president’s six-year record. Has the president abused his power? Well, if the Republicans impeached (but didn’t convict) Bill Clinton for sexual missteps, do Democrats have a more legitimate axe to grind? Stay tuned.
And now for
something lighter.
I read in “The Week” (March 17) that the United States Postal Service is tackling the problem of long customer wait-times by removing all the clocks from its 37,000 post offices. “Officials admit they hope that without clocks, customers will be less fixated on how long they’ve been standing in line,” The Week reported.
The Quakertown Post Office referred me to a national source (1-800 ASK USPS) for verification. “We have no confirmation about that story,” a bright female voice told me. Mighty Betsy reports that the clock in the Quakertown Post Office lobby is still on the wall…for the present. Stay tuned.
Item.
On last
week’s op-ed page, Dr. Robert Leight gave the background of six municipal
school boards consolidating into one, 60 years ago. Leight’s column was
accurate. He made an impassioned plea that the Haycock elementary school should
remain in the Quakertown district and not jump ship by moving into the
Incidentally, the borough of Riegelsville wants to leave the Easton school district and join up with Palisades. It makes sense. “The petition, signed by 417 of the borough’s 660 taxable inhabitants, cites the quality of education in Palisades, students long school bus ride through Williams Township (Northampton county) to Easton, the ability to attend school with their neighbors who attend Palisades and unequal school tax treatment,” the Morning Call reported (March 22).
Here’s the quarrel: Rieglesville taxpayers are taxed at a higher rate than the rest of the Easton district because property values in Bucks County have risen faster than in Northampton County. Rieglesville property owners believe that they’d save $500 yearly.
I wonder whether Dr. Leight thinks that there’s a difference between the Riegelsville and Haycock arguments? He thoroughly believes that the Quakertown school consolidation was right and continues to be so. I wonder what his view would be about combining the six municipal governments (Quakertown, Richlandtown, Trumbauersille Boroughs, plus Haycock, Milford, and Richland Townships) into one? And that takes me to Governor Ed Rendell.
Item.
Last June,
I had a chance to ask the Governor if he would lead the argument to reduce
Noble thoughts generally languish in the state capital. What representative or senator will vote himself out of office or reduce the number of terms he or she can serve? Who will be the first to leave the gravy train? Don’t hold your breath.
Item.
By a vote of 6 to 2, the Quakertown school board rejected a director’s proposal to hire an outside firm to ascertain whether administrators were manipulating student grades? Director Manuel Alfonso proposed an independent survey to see whether teachers feel they’ve been second-guessed on grading decisions by principals. He claims that a teacher (or teachers) say that a principal (or principals) are pressuring them to give higher grades.
In the climate set by the “No Child Left Behind” federal program, American school districts are graded upon how well their students are doing. Federal and state tax money follows those results. You and I suspect that many teachers are teaching students how to take the tests rather than teaching subjects fully.
Alfonso wonders, if there’s smoke, is there fire? I’m with him. It always bothers me when any government objects to independent audits. In this case, the government is the Quakertown school district.
According to the Morning Call, the chief of the district’s teachers union said that he will organize his own survey anyway and promised to share the results. Good for him.
Final item.
The teachers’ union is bound to object. The state teachers’ union opposes mandatory drug tests claiming an unreasonable search. In my view, the union is being short sighted. Adults who deal with children need to keep a higher standard.
Just as we find in professional sports, random drug searches insure that illegal behavior won’t be tolerated. If I were a parent, I’d feel better knowing that the school is paying close attention to the people who teach our kids.
Please tell me what you think.
Sincerely,
Charles Meredith